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Chiang Mai seven days - help please?

I will be in Chiang Mai for seven days Oct 26 - Nov 2 of this year with three friends. We are four women in our 40s-50s, all very active people. We are interested in culture, food and experiences. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This forum has been so helpful to me in planning my travels in the past. Thanks in advance!

Personally, I can't imagine spending 7 days IN Chiang Mai. I'd suggest you get outside the city to experience some of the countryside. You might enjoy driving the Mae Hong Son loop, staying at the Fern Resort and hiking, etc.

I used some ideas from the trip reports of Yestravel and Progol, you'll find them on this forum. They are fairly recent reports, and offer great tips for lodging, food and sightseeing opportunities. There are many other great trip reports, search by country.

It's very easy to arrange day tours once you are in CM. With 4 people to share costs, a private driver/guide might work for your group. Talk to taxi drivers and your hotel front office people, or pop into one of the many travel agencies, to discuss options.

There's also the Sunday night walking market with delicious little snacks to be had......

Have a look at the options, and narrow down what interests you, or just turn up and play it by ear.
Either way, I hope you enjoy Chiang Mai.

Great suggestions, Hanuman. I was sorry to leave Chiang Mai after three nights. I would add to these the Insect Museum, day or overnight visits to the fabulous Elephant Nature Camp (they provide transportation,) and massages at one more of the many reputable spots within the city. We had several excellent massages at a place that trained female ex-prisoners - I can't recall its name.

Chiang Mai is one of my favorite cities and I think you'll find plenty to do and see in 7 days. In addition to the above suggestions, a couple longish day trips are possible - to Doi Inthanon, Thailand's highest mountain, and the Chiang Dao caves, which offer several different length tours. Both were really interesting and well worth the time for me.

We spent ten days in CM a couple of years ago and had great time. It was a combination of lazy mornings with long breakfasts and swims and an active exploration of local culture. We hired a tuk tuk driver who waited for us outside the hotel every day and visited the wats previous readers have mentioned, explored the local food markets, saw orchid farms, buffalo farms and elephants, ate our heads off and had a massage every single day! The Sunday walking street market is an absolute must with not only food but also fabulous handicrafts and performances by local people. We stayed at the charming Ping Nakara which was just a few minutes walk from the night market (open every night for shopping and dinner) and found it a great location. The hotel staff were lovely, the rooms huge and comfortable and the food excellent. So if you're interested in absorbing what seemed to us to be a relatively intact local life and culture and are happy to go with the flow then I think you'll have a rewarding time in CM.